The Court will observe a moment of silence in tribute to BOB VAIL crossing the bar on 15 October 2005.  Once a Classmate, always a Classmate!  My routine in getting a new Bulletin in the mail is to check my submission to see how the photos look and then I would read his ‘72 Notes.  I’d always smile with his trademark closing...”Til next time, then, I’ll be port-side-to in Port Angeles.”  Our Thoughts and Prayers go out to MICKIE...and we know BOB is now moored port-side-to in the Ultimate Port.

The Court will come to order.  Are we proud or what?  Outstanding coverage of the Coast Guard’s amazing response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the October Bulletin and what a thrill to read about and watch our THADMIRAL walking with the President and forcefully and coherently answering press conference questions on TV.  Next time your waiting in the dentist or doctor’s waiting room, grab the 31 October copy of Time and read the article “How the Coast Guard Gets it Right!”  The Benton Town Office got it perfect!

GORDY MARSH and NORM DUFOUR weren’t the only Classmates evacuating New Orleans.  JOHN HERSH relates his adventure: “CAMILLA and I were in New Orleans settling my daughter, Emily, into her 2nd year at Tulane University.  She had leased a small house near campus with 2 other girls. On Sat. we tried to have our airline flights moved up to leave on Sunday with no luck.  We were going to ride the storm out, then fly out once the airport reopened.  On Sunday morning they closed our hotel.  When we turned the TV on that morning, Katrina was at 180+ mph with over 200 mph gusts.  CAMILLA and I looked at each other and decided to take our local rental car and drive it north till we could find an airport to fly back to DC.  We ended up racing ahead of Katrina up through Miss., then Alabama, into Tenn., till we drove into Va. and back to DC.  We were in the cockpit for 30 hours due to all the delays in getting out of NO and up into the state of Miss.  Emily evacuated with her roommate's aunt to Memphis thinking that they would return after the storm blew over and power was restored.  She then went to Chicago the home of one of her roommates.  She came home on Saturday and went to UVA on Sunday where she was temporarily enrolled to keep moving forward with her engineering education program.  Classes there have been in session for 1 1/2 weeks.  UVA is charging tuition and Tulane wants tuition also saying that they will reduce tuition by amount charged by the emergency school.  The last week and a half has been a very trying experience for my family, but we count our blessings in that we are all healthy and we have a home to come home to!

Do we have a SitRep on GORDY and NORM?  NORM passes along some encouraging news: “Our house in the Quarter, built in 1834, survived the hurricane quite well, as I expected it would.  We have some roof damage on both the main roof and the tin roof on the balcony, but only minor water damage in the house due to a roof ventilator that was blown off and allowed water to impinge on the bedroom ceiling.  No big deal really.  After three week without power, cleaning out a large built in sub zero refrigerator and the “beer” fridge (which had about 150 pounds of Dolores’ baking staples and 2 beers) was a task I don’t wish on anyone.  We also had some vandalism damage.  They broke through a 1” thick courtyard gate, broke windows in Dolores car and my little work truck and found nothing.  They got up on the balcony and tore off a pair of cypress shutters and were about 1 kick away from getting in the house.  Apparently something spooked them, because they didn’t enter the house.  All in all it could have been much worse.  No flood water at all, I guess that is why the original city was built there, it is the high spot.  We evacuated to Houston, via Memphis and Little Rock, where I have an office and within 10 days had the company up and running with surveyors in the field equipped with laptops.  We have been buried with work ever since, which has been a two fold blessing.  Obviously, I have been able to keep my company together and people employed and it has kept my mind off more depressing things.  Our office in Metairie, which faces Lake Ponchartrain, suffered some severe roof damage and will not be ready for us to return until January 1.   I and 4 off my office support staff have set up shop in our now expanded Houston office and expect to be here until the Metairie office reopens.  In the meantime, I have a contractor in New Orleans who will be working on the house whenever he can get the labor and agree with the insurance company on the extent of damage and necessary repairs to the roof.  Of course, the big bright spot in this whole mess was the USCG response.  I have not missed an opportunity to say with pride that Admiral Allen is a classmate.  I am told that I have been “volunteered” to serve on a Citizen’s Committee to help provide input into the rebuilding of New Orleans, however at this time the Citizens are pretty spread out and the committee has yet to coalesce.  Thank you to everyone who called and e-mailed with support.  It’s comforting to know that after 30+ years with little contact in the intervening years, I could have yelled SWABO and many would have responded.”  AL GRACEWSKI with GORDY the end of October and provided a SitRep: “He and JULIE are buying a new home in Mobile, AL.  They figure that by the time the insurance is finalized, the new zoning rules are in place, and there is community worth building in (after dike repairs) that will be many months or years.  So his house in New Orleans sits awaiting an uncertain fate.  His boat was totaled and then looted for equipment.  It apparently floated off its moorings (torn no doubt) only to end up with the hundreds of others in the marina ashore in a parking lot when the water went down.  He is at least partially insured so he is OK relative to lots of other folks down there.  He could write a heck of an update.  He continues to work at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems at both New Orleans (former Avondale yard) and Pascagoula (former Ingalls Shipbuilding yard).  I know he is very busy trying to work, commute, and put his personal life back together.”

TONY HART provided an update while watching the Katrina coverage: “Things are hectic here.  I've been glued to the TV for the past week and half watching the aftermath of the hurricane and the response.  I can only view the response from the news media and those reports may not portray the full picture, but it seems clear that the early stages of the evacuation and initial response the written plans were abandoned.  For the past 8 years, I've been the Bechtel Jacobs Company emergency management program manager for our operations at the Dept of Energy sites in Oak Ridge, so it is frustrating to see what occurred in the first couple of days.  However, the planning, preparedness, and the few actual response we've had pales in comparison with THAD’s challenge.  JUDY retired from the CG Reserves earlier this summer.  She operated out of the New Orleans and St Louis offices, so she was also keeping up with the conditions in the Gulf area as well.  She called the St. Louis office early on and told them to let her know if they needed any help or if any of the CG families needed any assistance.  She has become quite active recently in American Kennel Club activities.  At her next meeting, she is attempting to place on the agenda (and may have already done so), a discussion of the AKC's need to work with FEMA concerning the issue of pets during natural disasters.  There's been a number of organizations working to rescue pets during the hurricane, but it's more or less on a volunteer basis and the primary drivers are the organizations.  It was encouraging to see that the rescuers, in most cases, were allowing people to take their pets with them, but that hasn't always been the case.  I believe that this is a factor in people not evacuating.  A couple of years ago, we had a major train derailment just a few miles away that forced an evacuation of nearby residents.  One of the most difficult problems that local responders had was to get people to leave and not take the animals and then people wanting to get back into the area to get them later.”

Didn’t Benton get it right?  And it wasn’t easy...CAP’N BARNEY checks in: “It wasn't easy, either...darn sign doesn't have a spell-checker (we have the regular sign, not the reverter/spell-check model).  Go '71!”  And you have to understand that this effort was in addition to his other demanding and time consuming responsibilities: “Grampy with the three reverters-to-be.  We send them off on the school bus but the driver keep bringing them back!”

CHUCK BECK got an E-mail from AL DUJENSKI and passed is along as an amicus brief to the Court: “I have been competing in BBQ and chili cookoffs and after a winning couple of years retiring from the circuit. I collect and repair antique radios as a hobby. I have worked for a large insurance brokerage as their marine safety specialist since 1993.  GLENNA is a teacher and has focused the last 10 years on high needs kids. God knows she gets enough practice with me. My son is finishing up Physical Therapy school and again Dad will utilize his skills soon. My daughter is one of those that is climbing the corporate ladder at Nextel and has given us a grandson. He is one of my real joys in life.  We live in a log cabin about 30 miles NE of Seattle in the foothills of the Cascade mountains. GLENNA had decorated the house in all antiques (including me). We have several bullmastiff and bulldogs to keep us company.”  CHUCK thought he’d include an update on his latest boondoggle: “CHERYL and I are going on another "working vacation" in October, this time to Stockholm Sweden. As with other working vacations, CHERYL is working (another speaking engagement) and I am going on vacation. In addition to carrying the bags for Professor Beck, I believe that my duties will include checking out the Swedish massage parlors by day so that CHERYL can be appropriately directed after a long day of speaking. (Ya, right!)  I've recently changed job, though am still working in State Government.  I left the CT Department of Emergency Management on 7/21 to take a position as the Transportation Maritime Manager within the CT Department of Transportation. The job description reads a lot like an "M" position; responsible for strategic port planning, CT river ferry operation, licensing of CT marine pilots, development of CT waterways, etc.  Daughter (Lisa) is finishing her last (9th) semester at UCONN.  She needed an extra semester to be able to earn 150 credits for the 2 degrees.  She earned Hockey East all academic honors for the second straight year as the Top Scholar Athlete.  Son (Curt) is finishing an automotive technology program, working 2-3 part time jobs. We all attended the Rolling Stones concert August 26th at Rentschaler Field (UCONN football stadium). Quite a show. I figured it was worth the money to see them before one of us "retired from life".  We've been following the Katrina disaster with greater interest since the arrival of THADMIRAL ALLEN. Even my parents scan the various news programs looking for a glimpse of the Cadet they once knew.  So now you've got a twofer report.”  Well Done CHUCK...looking forward to the photo of your first experience with surstromming!  No, you go look it up!

TOM GEMMELL located BOB GULICK.  BOB works for NASD, the world's leading private-sector provider of financial regulatory services.  For more than 60 years NASD has served as the primary private-sector regulator of America's securities industry, overseeing the activities of more than 5,165 brokerage firms, approximately 104,117 branch offices and more than 660,950 registered securities representatives.  I’ve sent BOB a couple of snail mails, haven’t gotten a response yet, but will keep trying.  What’s he do?  Here’s the corporate bio: “ROBERT W. GULICK is Senior Vice President for Education and Training. In this capacity, he directs the development and operations of the Education and Training business unit, including product development, services, delivery, and marketing.  Mr. GULICK has extensive experience building and operating businesses in the education and financial services markets. Most recently, he was CEO of Intellexis International, Inc., the North American division of a UK-based e-learning company.  Previously, he served for 13 years as President of the New York Institute of Finance, the leading international training and education company for financial professionals. While there, he oversaw development of a full range of products, including seminars, courses, books, print, video, custom, and award-winning Web-based training. He also opened offices in Singapore and London to cover opportunities for financial institutions operating in those areas and struck an alliance with a major accounting firm to develop custom training programs.  Mr. GULICK also served as Vice President and Publisher of Prentice Hall Business, Information and Publishing Division.  Mr. GULICK received an MBA in Finance from George Mason University, two graduate degrees (OE, MS) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BS in Engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.”

BRAD TROTH replied to an E-Birthday card with an update and a little advice to the prospective Father of the Bride: “Paying for a wedding, just give the mother of the bride your ccard and do a few more iceberg cruises.  My wife & daughter were so excited about how cheap they got her wedding dress ($400.00), sounded pretty high for a one time deal to me.  Then later on it cost another $400 to have it fitted.  Never figured out why they didn't get one that fitted in the first place.  That was just the beginning.  You won't believe the price of flowers.  Now I have a grandson due in late October,  I think this will be more expensive than the wedding.  Summer was great here, lots of golf and lots of fish.  Work is enjoyable, if we ever win the Exxon case it will really get fun.  Closing our Seattle office on Oct 1, so no more business trips to the stoplight kingdom.  THAD looked good on TV, glad he is there and I am here.  Sent him an email and told him so.  Spoke with NORM DUFOUR after he got to Houston.  Thanks much for keeping us all connected.”  If I don’t ask, MARY JANE won’t tell me!  And we’re heading to Rio de Janeiro on 5 January for this season’s grueling Antarctic cruise aboard REGAL PRINCESS.

Speaking of Father of the Bride, our esteemed El Presidente was beaming as he walked Meghan down the aisle September 3 at Boston College.  Meghan sent the photo as JIM was traveling as the deadline approached with the quick note: “Our day was truly spectacular and one of my favorite moments was walking down the aisle with Dad.  We smiled the entire way and even made each other laugh in the beginning!  Congratulations on your daughter's upcoming wedding and if you are anything like my Dad, you are probably thinking of ways your future son-in-law can help you with projects next summer!”  CONGRATULATIONS Meghan, you were a beautiful bride!  MARY JANE and our daughter, Kristin, are busy planning her wedding for 29 July next summer at the Cathedral in Seattle.  I’m trying to use the  power of positive thought to spell E-L-O-P-E, but it ain’t working!  I am, as it says in my Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Being the Father of the Bride, about to enter the foreign, often dangerous territory of the wedding industry!

JIM ARMSTRONG sent Congratulations and an update: “I love to hear great news about daughters since I have two sons.  My oldest, Scott, is in his third year at University of Central Florida, his major has been biology from the beginning.  He will not tell us his post college plans with a biology degree, but I am sure he will tell us once he knows.  It looks like he will take five years to graduate since he has missed out on several courses.  He assures us that it is unintentional, but I suspect that he is in no hurry.  My youngest son, Daniel, is the guy that is into all sorts of activities.  He is a junior at Palmetto High School, you might recall where that school is.  He plays the double bass in the school orchestra and has played the bass since age 10 (when the bass was bigger than he was).  He also plays the electric bass guitar bass and practices with a group (at another parents' home).  Dan works at a local commercial lawn mower sales and service store and is starting his own lawn service.  He has lined up about six accounts I expects to start small over the winter when work is slow, but will have all his equipment and experience for next summer.  If his business does as well as he expects, he plans to attend the local university for the first two years to make money.  I will  keep you posted on how all these plans work out.  JANINE spent the last 16 years running the household.  With the messy son in college, she has time to work 15 hours a week for a non-profit organization, Melissa Institute, that works for the prevention of violence against women.  They support school reading programs, educate the educators and support research.  It turns out the common denominator of people who are violent against women is illiteracy.  Teach people to read and they are a lot less likely to pound on someone, particularly a female.  I am happy with the firm I joined several years ago.  If I had started out at this firm, I would have never left.  I am 15 minutes from home which really adds to the quality of life.  I am trying to organize a formal training program for new associates and generally enjoy the practice.  I am too busy these days, but currently looking for help.  For a week now I have been flooded with resumes, most don't fit the what I am looking for: Mk 1 Mod 1 lawyer - will train to suit.  I want to have someone that handles cases the way I want so I can slow down.  I am getting too many cases to handle them properly as the lead attorney for some of our big clients.  This is a big a change from the insurance company that kept cutting support for the legal staff.  Keep up the good work and good luck with financing the wedding.”  JIM, all contributions gratefully accepted!

WENDETTI remembered his camera!  “NANCY and I had dinner with PANCHELLI and daughter Ann who lives and works in Berkeley.  We had a nice dinner and great time at the old Claremont Hotel overlooking SF BAY.  Nice picture of the four of us at dinner.  On top of that, AL GRACEWSKI and SUZANNE came over for dinner and we celebrated AL's birthday.  A great cookout, playing with r/c boats in the pool, expensive (not cheap) chicken, and perhaps imbibing just a little too much.  A couple of weeks later, about the middle of September, AL and SUZANNE invited NANCY and me out on their yacht - KOOKABURRA.  Again, a wonderful time and for this event, MARIO remembered his camera!”  

CHARLIE BILLS had a new grandson!  “CHARLES and DI and family all doing well in Northern California, north of SF Bay Area.  Kids (Sherri, Julie, Matt) and grandkids (Nathan, Lauren, Isabelle, Grayson) all in the local area as well.  DI shifting jobs from Legacy Financial AA to an AA for Director of local Biblical Counseling Center, part of our church ministry.  I'm still with Hornblower Cruises, Director of Marine Operations, in SF Bay Area ... way busy, company at 30 boats from SF to San Diego and still growing ... still fun so we're still here.  The attached photo is DI with Grayson on 29 April.  Go Bears!”

Who would have thunk it?  All those hours at Ready Boat Crew sleeping in the scuppers or polishing brass in the rain have finally paid off for TERRY ROBERTSON with a Big Screen appearance in the movie The New World: “My “contract” with the Presbyterian Church in Tappahannock, VA terminated the end of August and I was called to Campbell Memorial Presbyterian Church in Weems on September 1st as their Interim Pastor.  My contract here is for 12 months, or until they find a new permanent pastor.  My house is right on the Rappahannock River. It’s a 3-bedroom ranch with a swimming pool.  My back yard looks west over the river, so I get magnificent sunsets nearly every night.  My Jack Russell Terrier and I sit and watch the deer come into our yard to eat pears from our trees.  Rabbits, wild turkeys and other assorted animals also show up from time to time.  I also have been volunteering since May 2004 at the Jamestown Settlement as a ship’s crewman for the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery.  August 2004, I spent a couple of weeks on the set of the movie The New World, starring Colin Ferrell, Christopher Plummer and Christian Bale, as well as others.  The movie is to be released in December and is about the Jamestown settlement and the colonists’ relationship to the Native Americans. Slept on the ship every night, reported to make-up and costuming every morning at 0530 and filmed until after sunset every night.  Long grueling schedule, but a lot of fun.  Starting in May of next year and continuing through September, several of us will be sailing throughout the northeast US on the new reproduction Godspeed (being built in Rockport, ME) to promote the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown.  We will be spending 5-8 days in Alexandria, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Newport, RI before returning to Jamestown.  BRIDGET is now in Sanford, FL going to flight school.  She will be training for about 18 months, then to work as a pilot for one of Delta’s regional carriers.”

Maybe it’s contagious?  BRAD’s a new grandfather as you read this...and PAT WIESE’s joined him!  “We moved back to St. Louis in September.  I don’t have a home e-mail address yet, as the computer is still in the moving box. I will give you an update on us soon for an upcoming Bulletin.  For now, here is the thumbnail sketch.  I was offered and accepted the job as Regional Counsel for the Department of Veterans Affairs in St. Louis.  The Regional Counsel is responsible for all legal matters for the VA in the states of Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska.  It was a lateral transfer with the government.  We are now close to our daughters.  Ellen works for Kraft foods in Madison, WI and is about 5 hours away.  Anne, who is expecting her first child in early November, and her husband Vinny are in Kansas City, MO which is about 4 hours away.  As I said, we are still living among the boxes.  Also, we are anticipating the birth of the first grandchild, and that will keep us busy for a bit.”  Busy for a bit?  When we get the first photos we also need a report of your best elapsed time to Kansas City...kinda figure you and MARIE will get real familiar with I-70!

Did you notice J.B.’s photo in ‘79’s October Notes?  What’s the story?  “I've been a 'bike nut' for my whole life.    I started out on a Ducati 125CC when I was 16.   Then graduated to a Yamaha 305CC my senior year at CGA (confession time).   While I was in SHERMAN (first tour), I managed to 'kill' the Yamaha and bought a used 350CC Ducati.    I traded that one in for an engagement ring for KIM.    I was 'bikeless' for a few years, then bought an old 175CC Honda during the mid-70's gas crisis in Southern California.   Traded that for a 360 Honda which I rode for my 5 years back at CGA as a Naut Sci instructor.    Then I had a long 'dry spell' with no bike, finally getting a 250CC Honda dirt bike about 12 years ago (the thing was simply indestructible).  This year I finally got my 'dream bike', a 1000CC V-Twin Ducati Multistrada, and I'm having a ton of fun (on dry days).   By my standards it is 'blazingly' fast and it will lift the front wheel in either of the first three gears if you apply too much throttle (which I've been known to do once in a while--sometimes even on purpose).   The magazines say it will run 0-60MPH in 3.3 seconds, but I don't know because I haven't figured out how to hang on and keep the front wheel down under that much acceleration.    And 'painting the road' with parts of my anatomy is a process I've managed to avoid since that first time when I was 16.   I intend to maintain that record by 'brisk' but 'careful' riding.    As a side note, West Virginia is not exactly a big 'haven' for Italian motorcycles so I was able to get an official state vanity plate that reads DUCATI.”  WENDETTI, how’s it compare to the Beemer?

Dinner at the Claremont Hotel and now a Flag newspaper orderly...AL is getting around.  “SUZANNE and I spent a really fine week in Hawaii in early October.  We accepted CHARLIE WURSTER’s invitation for classmates to stay at the Diamond Head Lighthouse guest house on the D14 Commander's residence.  We were lucky that CHARLIE was extended to serve a third year as District Commander so we could schedule this trip.  I would certainly recommend going there for a visit, and it is likely the last chance of a life time as he is the last & only of our classmates to be resident at Diamond Head.  The guest house is a one bedroom cottage that looks out over the breaking surf off Diamond Head.  Out the back door you can enter the lighthouse itself and climb up the stairs to an even more spectacular view of the Pacific with many boats and ships on their way to/from Honolulu or Pearl Harbor.  We were very lucky to be able to spend some time with GEORGE ANN and CHARLIE .  We went to several local restaurants during the evenings when CHARLIE was done with the daily work of the Coast Guard.  We had our share of local fare, including many Mai Tai's.  We also hiked with them to the Makapuu Light HouseÖa spectacular site above the cliffs on the eastern side of Oahu.  GEORGE ANN and CHARLIE look to be younger than "our" years and are in good health, and their extended family includes grandchildren that are all doing fine.  They were superb hosts and included us in many of their activities, including a reception at their quarters for local civilian leaders and Coast Guard supporters.  As I scanned the guest book at the cottage, the only other classmate I found was JAY TAYLOR who visited some months ago.  JAY’s comment was how strange it seemed to remember being a swab at the AcademyÖ.and then flash to present day while staying with the 2-star classmate who was a District Commander!  I will echo that sentiment.  One morning, CHARLIE was bringing us an extra newspaper that was delivered to his house, and I said " CHARLIE , do you know what this means?  The 14th District Commander is my paper boy!"   Talk about an unimaginable thing to contemplate while a swab!  So I want to close with two messages:  First to GEORGE ANN and CHARLIE .  Mahalo for an unforgettable vacation!  Second to all our classmates:  Please consider a visit to the WURSTERS.  You'll really enjoy it.”

RALPH LEWIS is back teaching part-time: “Just thought you would like to know that today I accepted a part time teaching position at Our Lady of the Hills Regional Catholic High School in Kerrville, teaching two classes of Chemistry I.  My classes consist of one section of 19 sophomores, and one section of 11 juniors.  The classes run from 8:30 am until 10:15 am.  The rest of the day, I can resume my status as a retired guy and starving artist!  The pay I am being offered is surprisingly lucrative.  How can I pass up a deal like this?  I get to be in the classroom with kids, and since I am a part time employee, no faculty meetings required!  The position became available because the incumbent had some health issues preventing him from continuing with teaching. I was quite impressed with the principal and the facility itself.  I start on Halloween Monday.  Now, back to fleshing out a curriculum, developing lesson plans, recording grades, and “trash basketball” test reviews!”

It’s early December, still time to make that last minute Christmas purchase through the Amazon.com on our Website...we’re adjourned!